8.8/10 – 40 hours
Review as written on 8/23/2022
(I really played all 8 games in a year, huh. 4 this summer too.)
A new chapter for the Yakuza series with a new cast and JRPG gameplay, the future of the series has never looked brighter. Yakuza 7 is the most streamlined, bang for buck game in the whole series, bringing in lots of new while honoring and polishing the old from past games. New JRPG gameplay, phenomenal characters and voice acting, great music, loads of charm. I love this series from the bottom of my heart.
The transition to JRPG gameplay from the previous beat-em-up style has ushered in a whole new gameplay loop, nearly all of which add so much to the quality of this game that would likely be absent if it were just another brawler style game. The job system allows for a lot of diversifying and broadening of skills to use, since an elemental affinity system exists now. You can mold your characters to have coverage of all kinds to address any kind of enemy you face. Being a JRPG also may require grinding, and the Sotenbori arena is absolutely perfect for that. You can earn loads of money levels in under an hour, and you can resume from any point in the dungeon to revisit and try for high level items and armor. Even the battle menu itself is nice with Persona 5 style “action quickly mapped to button” which is welcome, and you can filter skills to quickly pick them. Also, shoutout to the Majima and Saejima fight, which was phenomenal.
The new JRPG style greatly assists the storytelling as well. The plot itself is one of the most engaging and refreshing in the series, even while being a retelling of Kiryu’s original story from the first Yakuza. The characters are all richer than ever, which is a high praise for the already stellar cast from before, and are shown to grow and change with the times as Ichiban enters and leaves prison. The new Drink Links add much like its analogs in Persona, Fire Emblem, and Xenoblade which make the characters feel like real friends, and Ichibans interjections add so much to himself as well. You can even engage in conversations on the road and while eating too, which is the cherry on top.
The social commentary on politics is a nice change of pace, and watching the previous yakuza factions fizzle out to make way for the new world is a bittersweet plot point, sad but also exciting for the future. Odd and confusing plot points exist, but are (almost) all tied up nicely with larger significance to the story. (except Nanba’s whole conflict, Sawashiro randomly spouting exposition, and two identical coin lockers.)
My issues with the game are largely minor.
- Tendo’s fight is lame
- Why can’t I control the positioning of party members when it is crucial to optimal damage?
- Encounter rate is Yakuza 5 level of dumb
- Dragon engine complications are toned down but still present, laggy ragdolls and killer cars 🙁
- Still likes to shove side content in your face
- Homeless Ichiban section drags on too long
- The battle system could use a few more interesting gimmicks
- All the characters tagging along can occasionally look goofy in cutscenes (Saeko in Omi HQ), and there seems to be more focus on the original 4 party members than Zhao and Joon Gi Han
- Skills and builds are kind of limited, and there’s a lack of gimmicks
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